Cleaning and polishing cloth for bowling balls



Oct. 5, 1954 s. A. 0| GESARE 2,690,581

CLEANING AND POLISHING CLOTH FOR BOWLING BALLS Filed May 15, 1952 N VEN TOR.

jm'zfe 62 6% Patented Oct. 5, 1954 CLEANING AND POLISHING CLOTH FOR BQWLING BALLS Samuel A. Di Gesare, Buffalo, N. Y.; Rose I. Di Gesare, executrix of said Samuel A. Di Gesare,

deceased Application May 15, 1952, Serial No. 287,897

8 Claims.

This invention relates to a cleaning and polishing cloth for bowling balls.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to provide such a polishing cloth which is extremely convenient to use, it being merely necessary to place the ball in the cloth and to alternately elevate opposite ends of the cloth so that the ball rolls back and forth in the cloth during which movement, and While firmly embraced by the cloth, the cleaning or polishing is automatically effected.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a bowling ball cleaning and polishing cloth in which the ball is confined against escape so that there is no danger of the bowling ball rolling out of the cloth and bouncing onto the floor while it is being polished.

Another aim is to provide such a cloth for cleaning and polishing bowling balls which is conveniently held at its opposite ends so as to facilitate the alternate elevation of these opposite ends.

Another object is to provide such a cloth which is so shaped that when the opposite ends of the cloth are held near the same elevation the bowling ball assumes a central position, at which position it can be conveniently removed from the cloth.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a cleaning and polishing cloth in which the bowling ball can be conveniently inserted and removed and which is free from fasteners confining the bowling ball in the cloth.

Another object is to provide such a cleanin cloth which is ribbed in such manner as to facilitate cleaning of the bowling ball, these ribs extending transversely of the line of movement of the bowlin ball.

Another object is to provide such a cleaning cloth which can be turned inside out and which, with either side out for cleaning and polishing the ball, has substantially the same physical form and can be used in the same manner.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a cloth which has different surface characteristics on its opposite sides so that the ball can be cleaned with a rough, ribbed surface and then turned inside out and the bowling ball polished with a soft, fine textured surface.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a cleaning cloth which is made of one piece of material and at the same time is adequately reinforced so as to stand up under conditions of severe and constant use.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a polishing cloth which is very low in cost.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the bowling ball cleaning and polishing cloth embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 i a longitudinal section therethrough.

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section taken on line 33, Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse section taken generally on line 4-4, Fig. 2.

The invention is made of a single piece of cloth which, before sewing, is shown as being'of rectangular shape to have longitudinal and transverse edges forming four corners.

This cloth 5 must have suflicient strength to support the weight of a moving bowling ball and preferably has one face 6 coarsely textured and its opposite face 8 provided with a texture in the nature of a flannel or chamois-like material. The coarse textured side is designed primarily for cleaning the ball and the soft or flannel textured side is primarily for the purpose of giving the ball a high polish.

The piece of fabric 5 is hemmed, as indicated at Q alon its two longitudinal edges. Along its transverse edges the piece 5 of material is hemmed as indicated at It. The ends of the hem H1 at each end of the piece 5 of material are then brought into overlapping relation, as indicated at H and these overlapping portions are sewed together, as indicated by the stitches I2. It will therefore be seen that these overlapping, stitched ends form two handle straps one at each end of the piece of cloth. An important feature of the invention resides in the degree of overlapping of the ends of the hems It being determined by the size of the bowling ball, which is indicated by the dot-dash lines [3. Thus it is important that the circular opening l4 formed by so overlapping the ends of the hems H] be smaller than the bowling ball 13 so that the bowling ball cannot slip out through these openings but is confined within the cloth. It is also important that this circular opening be so small that the bowling ball l3 cannot contact the users fingers when he is holding the cloth tube by the handle straps l I.

To center the ball in the cloth tube formed by so overlapping and stitching together the ends of the end hems l0, the longitudinal sides of the piece 5 of cloth, along the hems 9, are centrally gathered, as by the provision of darts 15, to shorten the hems 9. These darts are formed by drawing together this central portion of each of the hems 9, folding back the excess material, and stitching, as indicated at It, the folded back material to the piece 5 of material. Providing these darts l5 elevates the ends of the cloth relative to the central portion thereof so that when the ball I 3 is placed in the cloth and the two ends held at equal height the ball tends to assume the centered position shown. By not stitching the two hemmed edges 9 together, a longitudinal slit or opening I 8 is left through which the bowling ball [3 can be conveniently placed inside of the cloth.

For bowling balls having encrusted material thereon, it is desirable that the bowling ball work against ribs in the cleaning cloth. Desirably these ribs, indicated at l9, project from the rough textured fabric face 6 of the piece of cloth and extend transversely of the slit I8. Desirably also these ribs are provided in two groups spaced equidistant from the center of the cloth so as to provide a non-ribbed central portion. These ribs are shown as provided by gathering the material forming these ribs together in the form of a bead and sewing the sides of the gathered material together, as indicated at 20 in Fig. 3.

It will be seen that the cloth is in the form of a cloth tub having a longitudinal slash-like slit I8 terminating short of its ends and sufficiently large to permit insertion of the bowling ball into the tube. The cloth tube also preferably has open ends of smaller circumference than that of the bowling ball. Preferably the cloth also has a coarse or rough finish on one face for cleaning, and a finely textured opposite face for polishing and can also have cleaning ribs in the side opposite to the slit and extending transversely of the slit. Also desirably the edges of the slit are gathered together, as by the provision of darts, so as to provide a bend in the cloth tube which centers the bowling ball when the ends of the cloth tube, with the bowling ball therein, are held at the same level.

In cleaning a bowling ball the bowler first sees that the coarse textured side 6 of the cloth is on the inside. If the cloth happens to have its fine or flannel-like textured side 8 out the bowler turns it inside out. The cloth is then laid down with its longitudinal slit IS on top, and the longitudinal hemmed edges 9 0r sides of the slit are then spread apart and the bowling ball [3 placed within the cloth and these longitudinal hemmed edges 9 brought together over the ball.

The bowler then seizes, with both hands, the two handle straps H provided at the opposite ends of the cloth by the overlapping portions H of the transverse end hems 19. With these handles held in both hand the bowler then lifts the cloth and proceeds to roll the ball back and forth by first lifting the right hand handle so as to cause the ball to roll down to the left hand end of the cloth and then lifting it by the left hand handle so as to cause the ball to roll back to the right hand end. This alternate lifting of the opposite ends of the cloth is continued until the ball has been cleaned to the satisfaction of the bowler. In so rolling back and forth the ball is in sliding contact with the inside of the cloth and it will particularly be noted that the weight of the ball tends to draw the sides of the cloth into firm contact with it so that a firm frictional contact is obtained between the ball and the cloth as it rolls along. Also as the ball rolls back and forth it passes the two groups of ribs l9, these ribs serving to facilitate the removal of any encrustations or strongly adherent matter on the bowling ball.

After the ball has been cleaned to the satisfaction of the bowler the ball is removed through opening l8 between the longitudinal hemmed edges 9 of the cloth. The bowler then turns the cloth inside out so that the rough textured face 6 is on the outside and the fine textured or flannel-like face is on the inside. The bowler thereupon reinserts the ball and again lifts the handles formed by the overlapping portions ll of the end hems l0 and again proceeds to first lift one end and then the other end so as to cause the ball to roll back and forth in the cloth and in firm frictional contact with the inner surface thereof. Since this inner surface is now composed of the fine or flannel-like textured face of the cloth the action of the cloth is one of giving the ball a h gh polish.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the present invention provides a very easily used cloth for polishing bowling balls which is highly effective in a very short period of time not only to clean the bowlin ball, even though the bowling ball has actual encrustations thereon, but also to give a high polished finish. It will further be seen that the cloth operates to uniformly clean and polish all surface portions of the ball with very little effort and that the cloth is low in cost and can also be tucked away with the other bowling equipment in very little space.

Iclaim:

1. A cleaning cloth for bowling balls, comprising a tube made of cloth of sufiicient strength to support a moving bowling ball havin open ends and a single longitudinal slit terminating immediately adjacent said open ends thereby to provide end handle straps by which the opposite ends of the cloth tube can be supported by the fingers of the user, said slit being sufficiently long to permit insertion of the bowling ball into the tube, and said open ends being smaller in circumference than the circumference of the bowling ball so that the bowling ball cannot escape therethrough.

2. A cleaning cloth for bowling balls, comprising a cloth tube having a longitudinal slit terminating short of its ends and said slit being sufficiently larg to permit insertion of the bowling ball into said tube and the material of said cloth tube along the two edges of said slit being gathered together and the gathering sewed thereby to shorten said two edges and to provide a bend in said cloth tube so that the ends of said cloth tube are elevated relative to the center of the cloth tube when the cloth tube is held with its slit uppermost.

3. A cleaning cloth for bowling balls, comprising a cloth tube having a longitudinal slit terminating short of its ends and said slit being sufiiciently large to permit insertion of the bowling ball into said tube and the material of said cloth tube along the two edges of said slit being gathered together in the form of darts and the gathering sewed thereby to shorten said two edges and to provide a bend in said cloth tube so that the ends of said cloth tube are elevated relative to the center of the cloth tube when the cloth tube is held with its slit uppermost.

4. A cleaning cloth for bowling balls, comprising a piece of cloth of sufficient strength to support a moving bowling ball and having longitudinal and transverse edges terminating in four corners, a longitudinal hem along each of said longitudinal edges, a transverse hem along each of said transverse edges, and stitching uniting overlapping ends of said transverse hems im-- mediately adjacent said corners only to provide a cloth tube having open ends defined by said transverse hems and a single slash-like longitudinal slit defined by said longitudinal hems and said stitched overlapping parts of said transverse hems providing handle straps at the opposite ends of said cloth tube by which said opposite ends of said cloth tube can be supported by the fingers of the user, said slit being sufficiently long to permit insertion of the bowling ball into the tube.

5. A cleaning cloth for bowling balls, comprising a piece of cloth of sufiicient strength to support a moving bowling ball and having longitudinal and transverse edges terminating in four corners, a longitudinal hem along each of said longitudinal edges, a transverse hem along each of said transverse edges, and stitching uniting overlapping ends of said transverse hems immediately adjacent said corners only to provide a cloth tube having open ends defined by said transverse hems and a single slash-like longitudinal slit defined by said longitudinal hems and said stitched overlapping parts of said transverse hems providing handle straps at the opposite ends of said cloth tube by which said opposite ends of said cloth tube can be supported by the fingers of the user, said slit being sufiiciently long to permit insertion of the bowling ball into the tube, and said open ends being smaller in circumference than the circumference of the bowling ball so that the bowling ball cannot escape therethrough.

6. A cleaning cloth for bowling balls, comprising a piece of cloth of sufficient strength to support a moving bowling ball and having longitudinal and transverse edges terminating in four corners, a longitudinal hem along each of said longitudinal edges, a transverse hem along each of said transverse edges, and stitching uniting overlapping ends of said transverse hems immediately adjacent said corners only to provide a cloth tube having open ends defined by said transverse hems and a single slash-like longitudinal slit defined by said longitudinal hems and said stitched overlapping parts of said transverse hems providing handle straps at the opposite ends of said cloth tube by which said opposite ends of said cloth tube can be supported by the fingers of the user, said slit being sufiicient- 1y long to permit insertion of the bowling ball into the tube, said piece of cloth having a coarse finish 6 on one faceand a fine finish on its opposite face so that by turning the cloth tube inside out the face having the coarse finish can be used for cleaning the bowling ball and the face having the fine finish can be used for polishing the bowling ball.

7. A cleaning cloth for bowling balls, comprising a piece of cloth having longitudinal and transverse edges terminating in four corners, a longitudinal hem along each of said longitudinal edges, a transverse hem along each of said transverse edges, stitching uniting overlapping ends of said transverse hems to provide a cloth tube having open ends defined by said transverse hems and a longitudinal slit defined by said longitudinal hems, said slit being sulficiently large to permit insertion of the bowling ball into the tube, and said longitudinal hems being gathered together near their centers, and stitching securing the gathered portions of said longitudinal hems whereby said longitudinal hems are shortened to provide a bend in said cloth tube so that the ends of the cloth tube are elevated relative to the center of the cloth tube when the cloth tube is held with its slit uppermost.

8. A cleaning cloth for bowling balls, comprising a piece of cloth having longitudinal and transverse edges terminating in four corners, a longitudinal hem along each of said longitudinal edges, a transverse hem along each of said transverse edges, stitching uniting overlapping ends of said transverse hems to provide a cloth tube having open ends defined by said transverse hems and a longitudinal slit defined by said longitudinal hems, said slit being sufilciently large to permit insertion of the bowling ball into the tube, and at least one rib in the side of said cloth tube opposite said slit and extending transversely of said slit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,605,993 Spanel Nov. 9, 1926 1,766,365 Weiss et al June 24, 1930 2,179,614 Cohen Nov. 14, 1939 2,523,636 Sherman Sept. 26, 1950 2,530,746 Wetherby Nov. 21, 1950 

